I’m Okay

Posted on by Sarah A. Hoyt

I’m not building a rocket ship in my garden shed.

I’m not writing the Great American Novel on tree bark with a pin.

I’m not executing pre-arranged plans to take over Ecuador with a flotilla of paddle boats.

I’m not re-creating the Egyptian pyramids in the backyard.

I’m not plotting world domination with Havelock-cat.

I’m okay. Post tomorrow.

234 thoughts on “I’m Okay”

  1. You really ought to consider Numbers One and Five.

    Actually we need to plot a commando raid on some bureaucrats on a certain island off Australia . . .

    1. Or a mass sit-in. In a perfect world, we could find the ultimate lawyer and sic ’em on the bureaucrats. Threaten ’em with poor performance appraisals.
      It helps to speak their language.

    3. Actually whatever is hitting me, probably auto immune means I’m awake an hour, then asleep an hour, then awake, then asleep.
      I’m trying to stay awake now till seven thirty. SO TIRED. But dont’ want to be awake middle of the night.

      1. Sarah, I’m having the same damn symptom, and it is hell. Been sleeping sitting up with my eyes open and not even realizing! I hope you get better, and I hope we both figure it out!

    4. I’m With Pam on Number 5. Havelock seems to have more brains than most of the worlds current leaders…

      1. Oh and if you do consider #1 watch out for crypto nazis on the moon. RAH was right about far too many things…

            1. They made a movie about Nazis on the moon, called Iron Sky. It was weirdly funny.

              Yes, I know Heinlein wrote
              a “moon nazis!” book somewhat earlier. It wasn’t funny.

              (Crickets)

              Next, Marxists from Mars, the Red Planet!

              (Alas, too late….)

              1. I was unfamiliar with Iron Sky. My reference was to Rocket Ship Galileo it was written in 1947 so actually the Nazis made perfect sense as the villains (it has been noted that written later RAH MIGHT have used Soviets as the villains). Presuming Iron Sky is on a streaming app I have access to it might be a fun outing. Given the images I’ve seen it seems to have a “Springtime for Hitler” feel to it…

            2. Nod.

              Apparently, that Heinlein novel was the First to put Nazi on the Moon.

    5. I would love to have the jumping (teleport) ability of Steven Gould’s main characters in his series. I’d dump every leftist leaning politician, without cell phones, scattered all over the French Southern and Antarctic Lands. And at least 20 miles from Port-aux-Francais. Although it might be better to dump them on Ile de I’Est instead, since that doesn’t have any visible human habitation on it.

      1. ability of Steven Gould’s main characters
        …..

        I have the same fantasy. Only I was think middle of the Atlantic or Pacific. “They were alive when I dropped them off …” Wilderness area the bears might get into trouble if they decide people are a food source. Sharks already know that.

      2. Why scatter them? Put them all close together in the middle of nowhere. How long before they go all Donner Party? Shall we start a pool? I say 72 hours max.

          1. Shouldn’t “Start a pool” or shouldn’t put them in Coventry? I can see morale opposition to the former on the basis of disliking betting, but Coventry seems the only way to rid ourselves of their idiocy. It is morally reprehensible but to quote our “friends” from the other side “You have to break a few eggs to make an omelette” . Unfortunately neither the Jumper ability from Steven Gould’s books nor that of Kevin O’Donnells Mcgill Feighan books exists. The world is an unjust place.

            1. “Unfortunately neither the Jumper ability from Steven Gould’s books nor that of Kevin O’Donnells Mcgill Feighan books exists. ”

              That we know of, or yet. There are some humans who thrive on defying the impossible by finding ways around it, over it, under it, or through it.

              A Star Trek-style transporter would work just as well. And we have some people working in that technological direction even today, with some promise I might add.

                1. The latest matter-transmitter ideas latch onto the “matter as information” idea, and presume you could reprogram chunks of matter from over-here to over-there. Which is a much neater method than scanning-disassembly-transmission-reassembly or space warps.

                  1. For just physical matter that seems reasonable. Deprogramming my matter here and reprogramming it there (which is kind of the Star Trek model) is great IFF your assumption is that all of our nature is a byproduct of physical process AND you can get around Herr Heisenbergs limitations on momentum vs position. As I said for the present I’m with Dr. McCoy wouldn’t even send my cats through. Test it with the Turnip In Chief perhaps, although how could you tell if it failed?

                    1. Good point. How do we know you’re not murdering the real you and building a (hopefully) identical copy? And like treg says, what happens to the non-material you that is allegedly attached to, or operating through, your sack of meat?

                    3. Alright now you’ve moved out of Sci-Fi and deeply into fantasy, and not good fantasy…

            2. Well, I almost wrote “We shouldn’t, but put me down for 96 hours” so shouldn’t start a pool.

              And you’re probably right if I understand your idiom. Removing the troublemakers from society is probably the only cure, barring a miracle.

              1. Coventry comes from a Robert Heinlein story called “Coventry” (in the collection Revolt in 2100 is the easiest place to find it). In this story the society has gotten to the point where if you are found guilty of a crime you can either accept reprogramming or go to Coventry, an isolated area in the North East of the North American continent (perhaps including Seattle 🙂 ) which is surrounded by an impenetrable force field. Our hero being a romantic thinking the anarchy in Coventry will be a wonderful place chooses the latter. He finds a rather different environment than he expects.

                1. Which in turn came from the city of Coventry, notorious for refusing to deal with soldiers. Consequently, if a regiment was sent to Coventry, they were cut off from all human contact outside the regiment.

                  1. Pardon me North WEST, Seattle is clearly NOT in the North East. Would have been in US proper as Canada never falls for the Nehemiah Scudder nonsense and stays a place to run to in “If This Goes In…”. The concept of Coventry comes out of the Second US constitution formed after the fall of the Scudderites.

      3. My dad’s story stuck them in personal bubbles between here and the moon. One million politicians, crime bosses, and so on, just poof. 🙂 He called it “Solitary Confinement.”

          2. Technically, if they’re in orbit around the earth they are also in orbit around the sun.

  5. I’m not doing any of those things either, but I am watching the markets with great enjoyment and, dare I say, schadenfreude, Barney Frank’s bank is done. Barney Frank. Hehehehe. What can’t go on, won’t.

    1. Barney of Dodd-Frank, which didn’t fix what it was supposed to fix, and made a mess of what worked pretty well already. Ah, yes. Sort of like Sarbanes-Oxley, but with more annoying sponsors.

            1. The hell with bunnies!

              They’re not just cute like everybody supposes
              They got those hoppy legs and twitchy little noses
              And what’s with all the carrots?
              What do they need such eyesight for anywayyyyy?
              Bunnies, bunnies, it must be bunnieeeeees!

    2. I wondered what you were doing.
      For the record, what I didn’t put in the post because I was still mostly asleep: Yesterday I was feeling out of it, and having an autoimmune attack form heck, so I took it easy, reading myself back into the mystery series.
      Today I woke up, and went back to sleep. Finally dragged out of bed at noon, and went back to bed. Rinse and repeat.
      I decided not to sleep from three till bed time, say seven thirty or eight, and checked the news.
      Dear Lord. The market is melting like wax in the sun.
      I’m wondering if this illness was sent from above like Don Camillo’s fevers.

                1. Halfway into Chapter 5 and wondering whether to take the cliffhanger and jump to Chapter 6. Unfortunately, I do still have to sleep.

                  It’s getting done, though. And that’s the important thing!

      2. Today was a tale, told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying … nothing. Literally a round trip to nowhere. The smaller banks got hammered, mostly, sorta, those that hadn’t tripled their balance sheet in two years while not doing any interest rate risk management probably got hit too hard and will likely be a good buy for those with the risk tolerance. Those whose Risk Management are diversity hires, not so well, For myself, I did nothing beyond watch since nothing really changed, some hedgies got wiped out, some hedgies got rewarded in size, The big movement was in the bond market, let’s see if it persists.

        For the rest, the markets reveal risk, they don’t create it. …. Mostly …. and the YC being inverted ALWAYS does this. Now, as the tide goes out we see who was swimming naked. All that “free” money has to be paid for TANSTAAFL and all.

        Watch the 2 year Treasury, it, not the FED, will tell you where interest rates and the economy are going. Right now it’s pointing toward recession. The Fed follows the bond market, the bond market does not follow the Fed. The speculator part of the stock market follows the Fed, which is why it’s all so noisy.

        1. Saw the two-years were shooting up. Al also noted Regions, one of our local banks, had trading stopped.
          I REALLY doubt, ” It’s all Trump’s fault!” is going to work this time.

          1. …but they will blame him anyway.

            Why were none of the problems Trump encountered during his first year Obumble’s fault?
            ———————————
            Burt: “There’s two tons of high explosives in that truck!”

            Earl: “It’s enough, right? Oh, God, Burt, don’t tell me it’s not enough!”

            Burt: “Enough? Run! RUN!!“

            2. OK, I watched it again and transcribed the scene:

              Burt: “Where the hell’s the bomb?”
              Earl: “I dunno, I didn’t have time, I just— threw one in your truck.”
              Burt: “You WHAT!? That’s two and a half tons of high explosives Earl!”
              Earl: “You saying that’s not enough? God, Burt, don’t tell me it’s not enough!”
              Burt: “Enough!? Never mind, never mind just run! Faster!”
              Burt: “No! No no, keep going! It’s gonna be big! BIG!”
              Kate: “Is he serious?”
              Earl: “Burt knows his bombs.”

          2. The two year treasury has history back to 1975. Today it dropped from 4.6% to 3.99%. Last Wednesday it was 5.05%. Converting those rates into log prices, today was an 8 sigma day. Prices vary inversely with rates, as rates go up, prices go down and vice versa. The drop from Wednesday overflows Excel as we had a two, then 4, now 8 sigma day. In fairness, the tails on this are fat and known to be fat with really high Kurtosis, but that’s pretty good. My view is that it’s the bond market capitulating to the recession, but we’ll see how the next few days play out. I’ve been wrong before and will be wrong again.

          3. I’m sure we’ve all seen the headlines about “Trump removed bank regulations that let SVB crash” and whatnot.

            What most of the headlines are missing is “Trump signed bipartisan legislation that removed etc.”

            1. ““Trump signed bipartisan legislation passed by a veto proof majority while dealing with fake impeachments that majority could confirm that removed etc.”

              The whole context is usually forgotten. What I find fascinating about the Cult of DeSantis is their certainty that he won’t face the same thing, or will just handwave his way past them with “No mean tweets”.

                1. What worries a lot of people, considering that DeSantis has been endorsed by Jeb!, Karl Rove, and other long term Swamp dwellers, is that DeSantis may not be what he appears on several issues he either hasn’t faced or has made mistakes on. Personally, I could happily vote for either him or Trump…. but it bothers me how many people who are supposedly MAGA are adopting the Left’s attacks on Trump. Witness Mike Pence.

              2. Trump removed bank regulations
                ………..

                Would the removed banking regulations even stopped what happened? Because I’m getting an impression the falling banks broke more than a few existing (implied not rolled back) regulations. One of the regulations removed was not “though shall not base decisions on stupid woke theology of hiring and investing, or anything else, just because it is the ‘in thing’.”

                1. Not according to the analysis I’ve seen. But most people won’t realize that.

              3. One, DeSantis was a governor who wasn’t actively sucky, in an era when just about every Tom, Dick, and mayor was out of their mind with destructive tyranny, so the population of Florida likes him. In comparison, Trump failed to use the Executive power to quietly murder Fauci and Birx. Or noisily murder.

                Two, lots of people are desperate for a political remedy to the current mess. ‘This one dude on a white horse’ is a bit more attractive as a remedy to a lot of people than ‘think about it, and pray’ is. Stuff is crazy and stressful, so it gets a bit hard to think about things cold bloodedly, carefully, and with a lack of attachment to the possibility of each remedy. ‘There is no remedy’ is one trap. Another trap is ‘there must be a remedy’ followed by ‘this is something, it must be a remedy’.

                Three, the establishment has a lot of info warriors, and they need a faction who will tolerate them continuing to have a career. Even if we suppose that DeSantis isn’t an Establishment ringer, meant to preserve the fortunes of the Establishment, he is low enough profile that the info warriors have something to offer him for a deal.

                Four, the post-Establishment house cleaning has a long way to go, and people are not being attentive to where all of the problems are, nor about where DeSantis is not doing things that should be done. The things not done are the big reason for thinking that DeSantis is too much of a conventional thinker to replace Trump as a creative visionary.

                1. “The things not done are the big reason for thinking that DeSantis is too much of a conventional thinker to replace Trump as a creative visionary.”

                  The whole drag show that had children present in the audience and all he did was cut the venue’s liquor license was something that disappointed me. It’s something. Yeah.

                  But when you do this stuff around kids it is a crime. Arrest, prosecute, and jail time. When a perv whips it out in front of a playground, he gets a criminal record. But when it’s a show, it’s okay?

                  Nope. Not buying it.

                  We need more than minimum effort from the folks that we elect to represent our interests. While I am grudgingly accepting of the fact that impalement will not be an official punishment for rape, and actual hot tar and feathers a punishment for betraying the public trust, and so on… I at the VERY LEAST expect any man Jack or woman Jill that represents me to enforce the laws on the books.

                  Are there no men with any stones among the candidates? Are there no women with fire in their bellies and spines of iron? Are there no bloody human beings that have had enough of the encroaching foulness, be it ESG, DIE, wokery, Marx, Lenin, or Trotsky?

                  I get that the candidate is voted as a representative of all of his constituents. Really, I do. But I have MASSIVE DOUBTS that those constituents are not very nearly as fed up as I am.

                  1. Yeah, this.

                    I am very willing to believe that I am much too extreme for the consensus position in my state.

                    However, I still am concerned that state Republican officials are perhaps quite a bit left of what the state population, and the state Republicans, really desire.

                    Possibly I am insane to suspect that any Democrats elected at all is evidence for election fraud, and for a state Republican party that delivers on a backdoor deal with the Democrats by not running candidates in certain state senator and representative districts.

                    The state definitely needs reform to the process for verifying and contesting elections, in order to at least clarify that fraud is not the issue.

                    Official lies beget a loss in trust. A loss in trust begets rumor and conspiracy theory. Rumor and conspiracy theory ultimately make public business much more difficult.

                    We need verifiable changes to voting, to persuade people that remedies exist, so that significantly worse remedies are much less likely to be used.

                    1. not running candidates in certain state senator and representative districts

                      There’s only so much money to go around, and there’s not much point in the Republicans running someone in a 90% Democrat district, or vice versa. Also, you get this:

                      WA Republicans: We have zero chance of winning the US Congress seat in Seattle, so we aren’t going to back any candidate and spend our money in Spokane instead.

                      Whacko Right-Wing Extremist: F*** it! I’ll run!

                      [loses 90-10]

                      WA Democrats: See? The Republicans are all whacko right-wing extremists!

                      Seattle LIVs: Ooh, that’s bad.

                      [repeat every two years]

        2. Which makes me glad my little nest egg is now in Sane Little Bank, not Big City Bank where my government job was. Saw the news about SVB, and my immediate thought was “what idiots.”

          Then dug into it a little. Heh. Give it a couple of weeks, then look back at it. Chances are, the same old fools will look like crazies again.

        3. And given many hedge fund managers are old enough to be my grandfather, I really hope my he overwhelming majority of them have cloths.

          Probably not, so should probably have lots of brain bleach on hand.

  6. I’m not…

    Just what IS going on at Castle Hoyt today? Inquiring Readers want to know!

        1. It’s physically impossible, since I no longer have a uterus or ovaries.
          I mean, being 60 is not enough of an obstacle, but absence of organs probably is.

  7. I’m sort of quietly panicking.

    I have no idea about banking or money. So it seems awful to me that banks are going under and who knows what will happen.

    Well, maybe some people know what will happen, but I’m guessing it isn’t anything good for regular folks.

      1. 2 Corinthians 4:7,16-18…

        And I see you have started to distance yourself already from Havelock’s plans for world domination.

        Well, put in a a good word for me. We have canned tuna for the coronation.

    2. Bank’s go under all the time. Bank runs doesn’t happen very often in the west because of deposit insurance and all that, but banks fail all the time, worldwide, one a week on average. They do tend to come in bunches. The banks that failed over the last couple of days all had common features, too much growth, too narrow a client base, too much Wokery and not enough management. Most banks aren’t like that.

      Things are bad, I won’t sugarcoat it, but I’m fairly sure that this is just another turn of the wheel like we’ve seen before and will see again.

      1. About the time Yellen said there would not be any bailouts, I figured there would be an impressive “call it anything but a bailout” event.

        Cynicism sure makes it easier to predict the FICUS mal-administration.

        1. This looks like a bailout and probably is a bailout — certainly that was my first impression, but all US treasuries sell at par at maturity so the Fed is, sorta, lending on harsh terms on good collateral, which is what central banks are supposed to do. The managers of these firms, are wiped out and their stock sales and bonus will be clawed back, their equity holders are wiped out, and their secured creditors will likely take a haircut.

          Sure, the large depositors are supposed to be unsecured creditors of the bank and I’m not really happy about the appearance of a bailout, but this is what regulators are supposed to do, resolve it with as little impact as possible according to the seniority of the creditors. Depositors always get special treatment.

          The simple fact is that there was no solvency issue at these banks, unlike 2007/8. There was a liquidity issue that’s sparked a run triggered, in my view and only my view, by management’s selling their stock, which made their depositors wonder why management was cashing out just then.

        2. And then Barney Frank’s bank had a bad day and suddenly FDIC limits don’t apply anymore. Imagine that!
          /sarc

    3. I think most folks should be ok, although individuals may need to seek flexibility.

      If you have the means, use two financial institutions. Ideally, these should be sufficiently different to have different risks, rules, etc.

      Bank + Credit Union is an example.

      Have enough in each to handle 3-5 business days of hassle.

      Note. If you can keep such cash on hand, also, even better.

      Even when I was broke-but-working, I could split a check into two institutions. Paid some bills from one and the rest the other. Pain in the butt, but forced me to pay attention to every cent.

      The day the Savings and Loans died, thus was not a total wreck for me.

      Keeping a week or two of canned food helped.

      Granted, some folks are in more dire straits. But with great effort, one can usually rig things to get a little better, and that money discipline leads to doing better. And, it leads to confidence you can get by.

      I am not terribly good at “money”, but am able to limit my spending, so I am usually ok. Will likely never be rich, but hopefully never again broke.

      There are at least a few money pros who post here who can probably provide more confidence/security builders.

      But know you can see this through.

  8. Have your given up on your plans to take over the world and leave it ruthlessly alone? Please reconsider #5. #1 and #4 sound like good ideas, too. #2 sounds even more painful than what you’re doing now. #3…I’ve seen a topographic map of Colombia, and I wouldn’t try that one, either.

    1. Because Havelock has the attention span of a gnat on speed, unless petting or food is involved? Because she can’t find him for the cloud of shed fur? (Athena is starting to blow both her coats. The fur, the fur!)

      1. “…Havelock has the attention span of a gnat on speed…”

        He still sounds more competent than the whatever-it-is currently infesting the White House. And his “significant other” (who serves in durance vile as our hostess 🙂 ) is much more competent than the other whatever-it-is who allegedly sleeps with the first one.

      2. I kind of suspect Havelock is trying to see if he can use the paddleboats to achieve domination over the pyramids in the back yard. I don’t think he’s considered the rocket ship, nor Ecuador.

      2. Again far superior to the Turnip In Chief, Heck even an orange cat who time shares the brain cell has infinitely more capacity to the TIC ( admittedly 1/0 is a forbidden operation, but often is treated as infinity).

          1. I suppose the below also applies…

            “When you are running down the street, on fire, ….”

            …

            “people get out of your way.”

            Richard Pryor

            1. I have no idea if there’s a connection, but I’ve also heard the following saying:

              “Set a man a fire, and you’ll keep him warm for a night. Set a man on fire, and you’ll keep him warm for the rest of his life.”

                1. I’m going to assume you’re not referring to the recently-departed queen of England and ask which queen this one would be?

                  Sidenote: Isn’t it just a kick in the teeth that Tighten from Megamind is actually telling the truth, if you watch it now? I hate that guy.

                  2. I suspect it’s this one….

                    “the queen of fairies she cried out
                    young tam lin is away.

                    had i known, had i known, tam lin
                    long before, long before you came from home.
                    had i known, i would have taken out your heart
                    and put in a heart of stone.

                    had i known, had i known, tam lin
                    that a lady, a lady would steal thee.
                    had i known, i would have taken out your eyes
                    and put in two from a tree.”

                  3. My guess is that he’s referring to the Queen of the Irish version of the Unseelie Court. IE a Farie Queen of the more nasty of the “Good Folks”.

                    Not even Dragons want to annoy that Queen!

  11. Taking over Ecuador with paddle boats does sound interesting though. Mount a few missile launchers on the sun roof and you might be able to pull it off. I mean really if you had a flotilla of paddle boats I think you’d overwhelm the Ecuadorian Navy. What have they got? A couple of patrol boats that were obsolete when you immigrated to the US? Might want to check with Col. K though just to be sure. You might get a few other authors involved if you told them they could play with missile launchers.

  13. I’m not plotting world domination with Havelock-cat.

    I thought you already accomplished that and were “just leaving us alone”. :crazy:

      2. It’s your blog, I suppose we can’t take away your time machine… (on second thought, keep it. Probably worse for us to have it than you.)

        1. See, every time I wonder what I’d do with a time machine, I come to the same conclusion.

          I’d travel to Israel, circa 31 A.D. or thereabouts, and promptly get A Look from Someone. Namely, the I put you where you were for a reason, now go back where you belong. Look.

          So… definitely better that I don’t get one.

        2. (Singing)
          I don’t care.
          I’m still free.
          You can’t take my time machine.

          …

          Sounds familiar.

      4. There’s the fiddling… Then there’s the full orchestra of strings that gets going when one tries to “fix” just… one… little… thing.

        We don’t talk about the seventies. That was not supposed to happen.

          1. Allegedly (perhaps apocryphally) that line was supposed to be ‘In the garden of Eden’ but the singer was a bit sloshed/stoned and they liked the take so it stayed as it was.

  17. “I’m not re-creating the Egyptian pyramids in the backyard.”

    Oh dear. Now you’ve given me an idea of something to do with all those granite rocks.

      1. I think you just got the makings of a pretty good story right there. I see a rock band transported to a parallel earth’s past. A wizard was looking for a band of Rock Giants and got them instead. C’mon it could happen….

        2. Trying for Rock Giants and got They Might Be Giants?

          This has potential for, um, something.

          2. I don’t have the familiarity with rock band personalities and behavior patterns to write that. If someone else does, though, I’d be interested to see how it worked out!

        1. If I could get someone willing to do the carving I would TOTALLY put a stargate in my backyard. The HOA could ‘fine’ me all they like, I’d just charge people to take photos or make fan films in front of it to pay off the fines….

          1. The propmakers put the rotating bit on a bunch of little wheels and used a chain wrapped around the perimeter with an electric motor in the base to make it turn. The article I read said it worked perfectly and without maintenance for the entire run of the series.

            O’Neill: “Stargate? You know, big toilet, flushes sideways?”

            2. Actually, the writers went with a concept that the “flush” disintegrated any matter within the flush zone. At least one episode had Teal’c trapped underground under a collapsed gate and under threat of being vaporized. Which was actually contradictory of the shield the SGC put over the gate to keep intruders out. The shield should have vaporized every time the gate opened.

              1. I’ve been rewatching Stargate lately and that has really been bugging me. That and the fact that the Stargate is unidirectional, except for the cases it isn’t.

          1. I don’t think even a Go’auld would want to parasitize Joseph Biden. And obviously the one that got Nancy Pelosi was killed years ago by alcohol poisoning.

  18. So who, exactly, are you plotting world domination with?

    Can I help? I’ll bring snacks!

    1. If there’s a League of Evil Masterminds in the offing, I want in. I can offer obsessive pragmatism, several evil virtues, and sweets. (Someone else will have to bring the Chianti, though.)

      1. Form an alliance with Evil Geniuses for a Better Tomorrow? I can introduce you to a card carrying Senior Minion.

      2. The greatest evils are done by people who engage in tyranny for altruistic reasons. At least the few self-aware, evil masterminds know they’re doing it for themselves. And, unlike those altruists, most of them aren’t interested in baking in the system for long after they’re finally gone.

  19. Everybody knows …

    Pinky:
    Gee, Brain. What are we going to do tonight?

    The Brain:
    The same thing we do every night, Pinky. Try to take over the world.

    Thus the need for cats.

    2. Lord William Blackfox did an SCA comic with animal characters. One comic had, “Lady Pynque,” and the Brain. The Brain was planning to win Crown Tourney, become King of the East and Take Over The World! Blackfox (the character) tipped a helmet over on him.

        1. Yes.
          I commissioned a family portrait from him. I wanted to be a cat, but he said, “No! No!” and drew me as a horse. My beloved came out as an ass (reflecting his device, an onager’s head erased with a besant ‘twixt its teeth and a twinkle in its eye). How two equines produced a curly-haired blong puppy is left to the viewer’s imagination.

      1. I for one welcome our future potential feline overlords (might as well suck up now) .

        1. Wait… Felines are not the current overlords?

          Miz Kitty might disagree. I just asked her “so are felines really the overlords?”

          She walked over to the cat food bag, and head-butted it.

          Hmmm.

          1. Indeed as long as the crunchies show up and the adulation and videos continue they are rather Laissez Faire in their management of things

  22. I believe it means that Havelock is doing it on his own and neither wants nor needs help.
    The rocket can be built elsewhere. Garden shed is misdirection….or a time machine. No police call boxes here.

  24. Wait, the flotilla of paddle boats was supposed to go to Ecuador?

    Hang on, I need to make a quick phone call. I hope they have cell service off the coast of Eritrea….

    1. blink

      You mean it runs out for other people? I usually have the problem of too many plots and story ideas and too little time.

      Story plots are, well, not even a dime a dozen. They’re free. Worse, I think some of us would pay you to take them away. A little bit, anyway, we’re not rich. Just so long as they’d leave us alone so we could finish the current one(s)!

      1. I might pay you to take one and work with it. That way I get to read it without having to put the work into writing it. Of course, I’d probably then get annoyed that it didn’t come out like it did in my head. So…

        insert Thanos GIF Fine. I’ll do it myself.

          1. Which is why I’m keeping it. Besides which, I’m pretty sure slapping someone in the face with the Infinity Gauntlet would kill them on the spot. No need for rapiers at dawn.

          2. Eh. That sort of thing might end up as a collab anyway. Some worlds just look like so much fun to play around in, y’know? Thus fanfic.

            I don’t usually get to wanting to write the characters so much as other stories in-universe, though. The ghoul story that’s still sitting on the backburner started out as MHI fanfic in my head. Turned into a time hopping story that gets to noodle around a bunch in historical times and places. Roman legion fighting cult sorcerers, pirates vs sea monsters, cossacks vs liches, and cowboys vs witches with some skinwalkers thrown in for chaos points, vampires during the first World War, and so on. Very humanity vs all the monsters of evil myth. Even get to use the same main character over and over, just mind wiped occasionally when he loses his touchstones.

            But I got zombies in space to write when I get the free time to do so. Just a smidgen left on the next chapter, then got to hammer the next plot into shape. And add more chaos. The pacing needs more shooty things before we go back to mystery and sci-fi nerdiness.

            2. Zombies in space? I hope that the cost of lifting that much rum into orbit is worth it.

              Whom am I kidding? Of course it would be worth it! Macroinebriation in microgravity? Sign me up!

      3. I keep thinking that the Muse has gone on vacation. Or that I’ll get something done without a plot bunny hopping up and kicking me. Alas, no. Heck, I can’t even go looking for one rick group’s videos (try before you buy and so on), accidentally get another’s video, and end up with a novella idea. Arrrrrgh!

        1. Beast in Black “Blind and Frozen.” I was looking for Beyond the Black but had a memory slip. Combine that with that week’s prompt, and . . . SIGH

  29. For the rocket that is NOT being built behind Castle Hoyt as we speak, the Reader recommends a NERVA engine to leapfrog Space X. The thought was triggered by the Reader’s visit here today. https://www.atomicmuseum.vegas/

    After all, what else would an Odd do in Vegas?

      1. Orion had the cool factor but NERVA was actually ground tested in the 60’s and demonstrated 2x the thrust of Starship’s latest static firing. Work on both!

          1. Yep.

            Of course, Niven & Pournelle had an Orion warship lifting off to “Kick Alien Rear-Ends” with one dude who might have been a former hippie. 😉

            1. The ships name was Michael as the project had been project Archangel. Orion ships seem like they be useful in space, but pulse fission/fusion engines are hell on the neighborhood at takeoff…

        2. “God’s Knocking And He Really Wants In!”

          The above is a line from “Footfall” by Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle.

          The character “thinking” that was riding an Orion warship lifting off from Planet Earth to “Kick Aliens’ Rearends”. [Very Very Big Grin]

  30. I’m not building a rocket ship in my garden shed either. The shed is full of miscellaneous airplane parts. Besides, I need to finish the airplane in the garage first.

    1. It’s usually better to finish one, then start the other one. Something about “Which plane does this go to? No, I though you tagged it.” No, I’ve never heard any conversation even vaguely like that one.

      1. Yeah, that can become a problem. The longer a project gets delayed, the worse it gets. At least the one in the garage is a homebuilt project with a complete set of scratch build plans from a currently active company which also has all standard kit parts available for sale.

          1. It’s a Sonex. I picked it up as a partially completed project from a guy whose health prevented him from continuing. In a couple of weeks it will be warm enough to work on it out in the garage again here in Minnesota. Then I have to stop procrastinating and start lining up those wing spar pieces and drill some actual holes.

            1. Cool. I met John Monnett about the time he announced it. My only issue was that he, along with some of the other designers I have met, was a bit vertically challenged. I’m 6’2″ & 200 lbs, so I’m a bit space conscious.

            2. I used to be pretty good with a rivet gun. Spent a summer as a full-time structural repairman with the MN Army National Guard . . .

              1. The only solid rivets in the design are in the wing spars. The rest of the plane is all pulled rivets. Those wing spars are the next step in the build. If you are local, you could come over and take a look at the thing sometime.

                1. Erk. Pulling rivets never went as fast or smoothly for me as did Ye Olde gun and bucking bar. (Granted, the bar I got to use was depleted Uranium and very small for its weight, so it fit my paws perfectly.) However, I did learn why one wears ear protection while inside the fuselage and wing roots when bucking rivets.

                  1. Good luck getting inside the fuselage or wing of a Sonex. Perhaps the Garden Gnome characters from the Monster Hunters series could do it. I remember being able to move about mostly upright in the inboard tanks on a 747, but this is an entirely different scale.

                    Also, what sort of tool were you using for pulled rivets? Getting a pneumatic rivet puller made a huge difference for me and the battery operated pullers I got to try out at Oshkosh last summer were even nicer.

                    1. I was pulling them by hand (two hands, actually). Most of the plane required bucked rivets, to match the originals. I was smaller, younger, and more flexible back then, and WWII planes tend to have a wee bit more interior space than a Sonex, or Long-EZ, or other homebuilts.

                    2. TXRed, I figured you were probably using a hand puller. Those are no fun for even a few rivets, much less for the thousands in an entire airplane. I too was smaller, younger, and more flexible back when I had anything to do with working on WWII planes.

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